LOS ANGELES – Jordan Clarkson’s fifth 3-pointer sliced through the net late in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers guard turned and extended his arms like the wings of an airplane as he buzzed down court.

It was a fitting celebration on a night the Lakers soared to a 107-98 victory over the Orlando Magic, avoiding a much-feared letdown after their most impressive win of the season two days earlier against the Golden State Warriors.

“It’s a very small sample,” Coach Byron Scott said, “but these two games, hopefully, if that’s any indication of how we can play for the rest of the season we’ll all be pretty happy.”

This time, the young guys did it without the help of their veteran leader.

Kobe Bryant sat out to rest his sore right shoulder, paving the way for Clarkson, Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell to play their best game as a trio. For the first time in their Lakers careers, the three core players scored more than 20 points in the same game.

Russell led the way with 27 points, while Clarkson scored 24 and Randle added 23 with 11 rebounds.

“I was pretty happy for all three of those guys because I thought they played extremely well,” Scott said. “Those are the guys we’re really trying to prime to get to the next level.”

It was just the fifth time this season three Lakers scored 20 or more points in the same game.

The Lakers (14-51) caught the Magic (27-36) on the second game of a back-to-back – it lost at Golden State on Monday – and after trailing 51-45 at halftime, was buoyed by a third quarter in which it outscored Orlando, 39-26.

It was the highest-scoring quarter of the year for the Lakers, who have won consecutive games for the third time this season.

“That’s the whole trick of this NBA,” Scott said, “especially for the young guys: How can you conjure up that energy and effort every single night?”

Russell scored 14 of his points in the third period while Randle scored 11. The Lakers shot 59.1 percent from the field in the third, and nearly 50 percent (49.4) for the game.

Victor Oladipo led the Magic with 26 points and Evan Fournier added 23.

Nick Young started in place of Bryant, but went scoreless in 23 minutes. Larry Nance Jr. scored eight points off the bench but made his greatest contribution on the glass, finishing with 10 rebounds.

KOBE AND KING JAMES

It wasn’t especially difficult to deduce that Bryant would sit out Tuesday’s game. Not only is Bryant battling significant aches and pains, the matchup lacked any significant connection for Bryant, nor has any Magic player been around long enough to have history with the retiring superstar.

Thursday’s nationally televised game against the Cleveland Cavaliers will be a different matter entirely.

Bryant has prioritized games against the league’s best teams and players he most respects. Few fit that description more than LeBron James.

Scott put the odds of Bryant playing at “50-50,” although he allowed that the matchup with the Eastern Conference’s best team, and the league’s top player, added incentive.

“I would hope he would be able to play that game,” Scott said, “because it is against Cleveland and LeBron and I know how much respect they have for each other. But if (his shoulder) feels like it does today, then I don’t expect him to play.”

AND WORLD PEACE

The return of Metta World Peace was expected to bolster the Lakers locker room, and give the young Lakers a hard-working veteran after which to model their preparation.

As far as playing? Not much was expected.

After playing reliable minutes for the first month of the season, World Peace, 36, settled into a mentorship role that usually kept him behind the bench in a suit.

“Metta’s been fantastic,” Scott said. “He’s been everything we thought he could be, at this late stage of his career we thought he could be a mentor to a lot of the guys, could be a leader for these guys.”

The season-ending injury to rookie Anthony Brown, however, coupled with Bryant’s tenuous health, has put World Peace back into Scott’s nightly plans.

He logged 16 minutes Tuesday, making his only shot – a 3-pointer – to finish with four points and, no doubt a point of pride for the hard-nosed vet, five fouls.

Scott said World Peace, who has appeared in just five games since early December, has been most valuable in practices and in film sessions.

“He’s been a tremendous help to us as a coaching staff,” Scott said, “because of the fact that he does come out every single day with one mindset, and that’s to get better.”

Bill Oram covers the Los Angeles Lakers for the Southern California News Group. He covered the Utah Jazz for the Salt Lake Tribune. He is the (usually) bearded guy in the background wearing a University of Montana hat.